I have a basic question for the more experienced coin community here. I have been a collector on and off for more than four decades, so i have learned a thing or two about coins along the way, but have never had a coin professionally graded. So my question is to those of you who have had coins professionally graded, has it been worth the cost of doing so?

My situation is this: Over the past eight or nine months now i have been consistently accumulating coins from one local dealer near me, but mostly from various eBay sellers. I have set aside a few 'gems' - coins that i feel would grade higher than MS 65. I have also set aside scarcer date coins that may grade VF or higher. The coins set aside as potential gradable coins are mostly from the US, Canada, Old British silver & coppers, and a few scarcer date silver coins from Australia and New Zealand - shillings, florins, etc.

I do know that some grading services seem to be more credible than others, and have seen some graded coins sell on eBay for high prices, and others not so high or not even sell at all. I have also seen ungraded gems sell for higher prices than i wanted to pay. Perhaps the ones that sold for higher prices did so because the sellers involved have always been 'coin guys' on eBay with larger groups of serious coin buyers following them. That may be the difference right there. Thank you in advance for any input you may have.